McDonald’s, Yum release supplier data after China food safety scare

Shanghai’s Municipal Food and Drug Administration said on Saturday that it had asked the two chains, along with Burger King, Dicos and Carl’s Jr, to publish the usually closely-guarded information as part of efforts to strengthen oversight of food suppliers.

The five firms were among a range of companies that were supplied meat by Shanghai Husi Food, a unit of U.S.-based OSI Group LLC, which was alleged by a TV report to have improperly handled meat and used expired food. The Shanghai authority said the companies published the information on Aug. 9.

Details published on Yum’s Chinese website showed it had 26 suppliers that provided it with products such as chicken pieces and shortening, while McDonald’s issued supplier lists according to items such as beef patties and frozen chicken wings.

The scare is testing local consumers’ loyalty to foreign fast-food brands. Yum said earlier this month that the scare had caused “significant, negative” damage to sales at its KFC and Pizza Hut restaurants across the country while McDonalds on Friday reported its worst monthly performance in a decade. (Reuters)